Tongues are flapping over Palestine way, where President Mahmoud Abbas and Nationalist leader Ahmad Jibril confirmed that former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat died of AIDS. And, what’s more, he most likely got the bug from having gay sex. Israel Today reports:
Jibril, like many Palestinians, readily accepted the notion that Israel had assassinated Arafat, and wanted the Palestinian Authority to conduct an official investigation concluding as much. The response from Abbas’ aides changed in an instant Jibril’s view of his deceased mentor.
“They were silent, and then one of them said to me: ‘To be honest, the French gave us the medical report, that stated that the cause of [Arafat’s] death was AIDS.’”
Arafat eventually died in a Paris hospital after being airlifted out of Ramallah. Many speculated that the Palestinian leader, who was said to have had numerous homosexual relationships, had in fact contracted AIDS.
Jibril went on to tell reporters that with truth out there, Fatah can look forward to a new era. Their increasingly cozy relationship with Israel probably won’t hurt, either.
EdWoody
Well, I didn’t know that.
There you go – you’ve educated me.
dubwise
I have a hard time excepting news from an organization that has the star of David, the Menorah, and the Christian “fish” as their official symbols. Especially, when it comes to news on anything having to do with the Palestinian territories.
Jack Jett
Wow, what an amazing sugar daddy he would have been.
Jack and Yasser Arafat Jett has a nice ring to it.
jack jett
http://www.jackejett.com
Mr. B
Um, Israel Today is run by very religious Messianic Jews in Jerusalem. Not saying that there’s anything wrong with being Christian (or Christian and Jewish), but it’s not outlandish to think such a paper–especially with a strong Zionist (so anti-Arafat) bent–might make questionable allegations. I’m just saying, be a little more careful about your sources.
Mr. B
Researching further, I see that the NY Times is actually the one who broke the news. But it’s still only an allegation, based on concealment of his hospital records. Sketchy. Oh, and also reporting heavily on the topic? WorldNetDaily.
Draw your own conclusions.
Greene
It was spoken by a fellow terrorist Ahmed Jibril on Hezbollah’s al Manar TV
“Following is an excerpt from an interview with Ahmad Jibril, Secretary-General of the PFLP General Command, which aired on Al-Manar TV on July 5, 2007:
Ahmad Jibril: When Abu Mazen came to Damascus with his team, I asked them: “What happened to the investigation into the death of Abu Ammar [Arafat]? The Israelis killed him. He was my colleague ever since 1965 and used to sleep at my home. He and I followed the same path.” Is it conceivable that when Rafiq Al-Hariri was killed, all hell broke loose, even though he was just a merchant in Saudi Arabia, who later entered politics, whereas the death of Yasser Arafat, who for 40 years had been carrying his gun from one place to another, is not investigate? Is this conceivable? They were silent, and then one of them said to me: “To be honest, the French gave us the medical report, that stated that the cause of Abu Ammar’s death was AIDS.” I am not saying this, they did. Now they pretend that they miss Yasser Arafat, and complain that [Hamas] entered his house in [Gaza] and so on… I say to every honorable member of the Fatah movement that he should be happy that we got rid of the plague, which had been imposed upon them and upon the Palestinian people. The Fatah movement now has an opportunity to renew itself.”
Since homosexuality is an automatic death sentence in most of these Muslim countries, the question is whether they would have given Arafat a pass given his stature or would he have been buried up to his head and then stoned to death as the ordinary gay man or woman would be ?
Greene
And the actual video of the TV interview with Jibril can be found at http://www.memri.com however memri.com is an organization of Arabs AND Jews so given some of the earlier posts, those who automatically dismiss Jewish credibility when it comes to this subject should probably refrain from bothering.
Mr. B
Before you pigeonhole me as an anti-Semite, Greene, I guess now’s as good a time as any to let you know that I am Jewish by birth. All I said was that if Israel Today was the only source–and this was prior to my finding out about the Times leak, which I don’t trust either–it should be taken into consideration that it was a news medium with a specific agenda. If Haaretz had covered it, I’d feel differently.
For the record (and I think you fully well know this, Greene), the Middle East Media Research Institute also has a strong pro-Israel bias. And they’re citing a single interview, with Ahmad Jibril at that. So…what exactly were you trying to prove, again?
Also, it’s memri.org.
Medical records–now, that would convince me. However, I don’t really think it’s anyone’s business how Arafat died. I just hate speculation and propaganda being passed off as news.
Greene
It never ceases to amaze me how so many, and usually from the Left these days, just can’t resist the urge to accuse others of calling them anti semites before they’re ever called anything. Excuse me but did I call you an anti semite Mr B? And so why did you accuse me of doing so? Why are you even making THAT the issue. The standard Leftwing deflection.
What I am saying is apparently, and once again, you believe that anything from the Israeli or Jewish point of view must be tainted and is therefore suspect … yes? But you’d feel differently if Haaretz, the far left newspaper covered it. Did I get it all correct?
Haaretz, it should be noted constantly gets things wrong and I know since I read it daily.
Are you accusing Memri of translating Jibril’s interview incorrectly?
It should be noted that CNN often uses Memri translations.
Have you seen a single Arab/Muslim leader deny the report of the interview that was made more then a week ago? No, I don’t think you have.
So what I’m saying is the report is obviously true, the translation is obviously accurate and your fears that anything Jewish and/or Israeli automatically disqualify anything having to do with this entire issue are moot. I assume since I’ve seen or read or heard nothing from any of the usual sources, the report of the interview is accurate.
But since we’re on the subject and we’re on a gay web site, tell me, do you support those who execute people for being born gay? Are you one of those who supports Hamas versus Israel. You don’;t seem to trust anything Israeli and you prefer Haaretz which is often anti Israeli depsite it being an Israeli newspaper. I’m just curious? Are you so Leftwing, that you deny the very people I think you support are so homophobic that they kill gay people for simply being gay?
Just keep in mind that Jabril in his interview called Arafat “a plague” only because he was gay.
If you wanted to know what I was getting at, its the inconceivable reality that those on the Left, even those who are Gay and on the left, would rather support the very people who would execute them for being gay, rather then support Israel. Its absolutely fantastic to behold.
Greene
It never ceases to amaze me how so many, and usually from the Left these days, just can’t resist the urge to accuse others of calling them anti semites before they’re ever called anything. Excuse me but did I call you an anti semite Mr B? And so why did you accuse me of doing so? Why are you even making THAT the issue. The standard Leftwing deflection.
What I am saying is apparently, and once again, you believe that anything from the Israeli or Jewish point of view must be tainted and is therefore suspect … yes? But you’d feel differently if Haaretz, the far left newspaper covered it. Did I get it all correct?
Haaretz, it should be noted constantly gets things wrong and I know since I read it daily.
Are you accusing Memri of translating Jibril’s interview incorrectly?
It should be noted that CNN often uses Memri translations.
Have you seen a single Arab/Muslim leader deny the report of the interview that was made more then a week ago? No, I don’t think you have.
So what I’m saying is the report is obviously true, the translation is obviously accurate and your fears that anything Jewish and/or Israeli automatically disqualify anything having to do with this entire issue are moot. I assume since I’ve seen or read or heard nothing from any of the usual sources, the report of the interview is accurate.
Greene
But since we’re on the subject and we’re on a gay web site, tell me, do you support those who execute people for being born gay? Are you one of those who supports Hamas versus Israel. You don’t seem to trust anything Israeli and you prefer Haaretz which is often anti Israeli despite it being an Israeli newspaper. I’m just curious? Are you so Leftwing, that you deny the very people I think you support are so homophobic that they kill gay people for simply being gay?
Just keep in mind that Jabril in his interview called Arafat “a plague” only because he was gay.
If you wanted to know what I was getting at, its the inconceivable reality that those on the Left, even those who are Gay and on the left, would rather support the very people who would execute them for being gay, rather then support Israel. Its absolutely fantastic to behold.